Although this is getting very nitpicky, while I'd agree a perigee above ground would count as an orbital _trajectory_, an orbital flight is usually considered as one that completes at least one full orbit around the planet.
There was also another issue - Gagarin did not land with the capsule, but ejected during the landing as expected & both the and the capsule landed under (separate) parachutes. This was because the capsule landing speed was higher than what could be achieved if only the kosmonaut parachuted down, making the landing safer.
But the FAI guidelines for for space records at the time were based on normal aircraft flights & expected the crew to board the craft & only disembark on landing.
Also the orbital booster used (R7) was also still an active ICBM (even sometimes holding combat readiness with a live nuke on top on the same launch pad) so that was IIRC secret as well. :)
